Death of boy, 4, is ruled homicide

DCFS reviewing its past inquiries into child's abuse

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the death of a 4-year-old Romeoville boy a homicide Wednesday, focusing a police investigation on and raising further questions about how the state child welfare agency handled the boy's case.

Three times this year, caseworkers for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated allegations that James Pack had been abused by his father, and each of those probes found no basis for the charges. Now, however, DCFS officials acknowledge that those examinations were flawed--although they say that does not indicate the father abused the boy.

Two former top DCFS officials said in interviews Wednesday that staffing shortages--too few supervisors and overloaded caseworkers--may have strained the agency's ability to thoroughly investigate this case and others.

DCFS is continuing its own investigation.

"If somebody is responsible, we are going to take care of it," said Jill Manuel, a DCFS spokeswoman. "Whether or not it could have been prevented, we couldn't say. That's why we are looking into it. If we feel someone should have done something they didn't, we'll take action."

James had been living with his father since February, when the state took him from his mother after separate, earlier investigations found that she had abused him. Since then, DCFS investigated three allegations of abuse against the father, which caseworkers determined were unfounded.

Monday morning the boy, who had cystic fibrosis, was brought to a hospital because he had difficulty breathing. Surgeons found that he had a ruptured bowel, prompting an abuse investigation. The child died Monday night in Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Officials with the medical examiner's office said an abdominal trauma, a ruptured bowel and an infection killed James.

Romeoville police, who had been awaiting autopsy results, were conducting a homicide investigation Wednesday. Officials said they had no one in custody and did not name suspects.

Neighbors on the well-kept block of homes on Montrose Drive where James lived praised the father's parenting skills, saying they often saw the father and his wife playing and laughing with James and their two other sons.

The Pack family lived in a modest home with a swing set in the back yard facing a cornfield. They trimmed the lawn, decorating it with flowers.

James played outside. The boy was clumsy, neighbors said, but no matter how many times he fell, he would not whine and always got back up.

"[The father] cried and cried. He said, `You know I would never hit my children,'" said Thomas, 85. "Child abuse? I would never believe that in a month of Sundays."

Neighbor Geri Patterson said she often went into the Pack family's back yard to play with the boys and their dog. She gave the boys a rocking horse after they moved in about a year ago.

She said the boys appeared to idolize their father.

"They hang on to everything he says and everything he does," she said.

That was the same picture that caseworkers saw when they visited the boy Friday, a former DCFS official said.

The official said that if the examination of the boy's case was flawed, it could be blamed on a high workload.

The DCFS Northern Region Office handles cases for 17 counties--from Kankakee to the Mississippi River up to Wisconsin--and has the highest caseload in the state, the official said.

"We've been trying to make sure every child was safe on a shoestring," the former official said. "That affects things because supervisors need to clinically staff every investigation to ensure investigators are doing everything that is required.

"We've been screaming for help."

Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy said DCFS caseworkers increasingly have been trying to avoid removing children from their homes, a decision that can be complex and problematic.

"DCFS goes through cycles," he said. "The present cycle is try as best you can to keep the kids out of the system. ... We've seen a number of cases where they keep giving parents chances.

"The balancing act the worker has to go through is to keep the kid with a parent that is not very good but at some level may love the kid, or bring the kid into a system that absolutely stinks."